Hiding in plain sight: Captured Benghazi suspect an enigma

By Tom Cohen, CNN

Updated 6:38 PM ET, Tue June 17, 2014

Photos: Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi22 photos

Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – Attackers set the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, on fire on September 11, 2012. The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other U.S. nationals were killed during the attack. The Obama administration initially thought the attack was carried out by an angry mob responding to a video, made in the United States, that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. But the storming of the mission was later determined to have been a terrorist attack.

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Photos: Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi22 photos

Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – Obama and Clinton stand at Andrews Air Force Base as the bodies of the four Americans killed are returned on September 14.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – A desk sits inside the burnt U.S. mission on September 13, two days after the attack.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – Damage is seen inside the U.S. mission on September 13.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – A lounge chair and umbrella float in the swimming pool of the U.S. mission on September 13.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – Demonstrators gather in Libya on September 12 to condemn the killers and voice support for the victims.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – U.S. President Barack Obama, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on September 12, makes a statement at the White House about Stevens' death.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – A burnt vehicle is seen at the U.S. mission in Benghazi on September 12.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – People inspect the damage on September 12.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – A small American flag is seen in the rubble on September 12.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – A man stands in part of a burned-out building of the U.S. mission on September 12.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – Smoke and fire damage is evident inside a building on September 12.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – Half-burnt debris and ash cover the floor of one of the U.S. mission buildings on September 12.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – The U.S. mission is seen in flames on September 11, the day of the attack.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – A protester reacts as the U.S. mission burns on September 11.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – A vehicle and the surrounding area are engulfed in flames on September 11.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – Flames erupt outside of a building on September 11.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – A vehicle burns during the attack on the U.S. mission on September 11.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – Onlookers record the damage from the attack on September 11.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – Onlookers walk past a burning truck and building on September 11.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – A vehicle sits smoldering in flames on September 11.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi – People duck flames outside a building on September 11.

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Story highlights

Ahmed Abu Khatallah denied to CNN last year that he led the Benghazi attack

He was imprisoned under Moammar Gadhafi, then formed an Islamist militia

Don't fear al Qaeda, he told CNN's Arwa Damon

He is being brought to the United States to face charges

Ahmed Abu Khatallah has been an enigma since his name first emerged as a possible leader of the Benghazi terrorist attack that killed four Americans.

"No problem," he replied in 2013 when Damon asked if he would be willing to meet with U.S. investigators presumably searching for him.

"But not as an interrogation," he added, suggesting instead "a conversation, like the one we are having with you now."

It didn't work out that way.

More than a year later, U.S. special forces nabbed Abu Khatallah in a weekend mission near Benghazi, the Obama administration announced Tuesday.

Under questioning

Instead of the conversation he proposed, Abu Khatallah is being questioned before his transfer to the United States to face charges in the Benghazi attack.

"As a general rule, the government will always seek to elicit all the actionable intelligence and information we can from terrorist suspects taken into our custody," said National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

The FBI-led High Value Detainee Interrogation Group team, which also includes CIA and military intelligence members, typically conducts such intelligence interviews.

On Tuesday, a federal judge unsealed charges filed last year that accuse Abu Khatallah of killing a person in the course of an attack on a federal facility with a firearm and a dangerous weapon, and of attempting and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists resulting in death.

The charges, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, also accuse him of discharging, brandishing, using, carrying and possessing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Former prisoner under Gadhafi

Believed to be in his early 40s, Abu Khatallah emerged from years in prison under the regime of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to form an Islamist militia and later became associated with Ansar al-Sharia, a group U.S. officials blamed for the 2012 attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others.

Coming in the midst of a U.S. presidential campaign, the assault ignited a political firestorm.

Republican critics of President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seized on the vulnerability of the U.S. compound on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks to accuse the administration of failing to provide proper security.

They also alleged a politically inspired coverup when former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, now Obama's national security adviser, went on Sunday talk shows a few days later and blamed the unrest on spontaneous protests against an anti-Muslim video made in America.

Such protests occurred in other Middle East region cities that day, but U.S. officials later acknowledged the Benghazi attack was an organized assault instead of simply a spur-of-the-moment demonstration that spiraled out of control.

Clinton said Tuesday in a town hall-style event broadcast on CNN that she hoped Abu Khatallah's capture would bring answers to some of the lingering questions over what happened in Benghazi.

"We want to know who was behind it, what the motivation of the leaders and attackers were," she said, attributing the lingering lack of information today in part to the "fog of war" in post-Gadhafi Libya.

"We tried to control traffic"

In his interview with CNN's Damon, Abu Khatallah offered little explanation for what happened or his exact role.

"I didn't know where the place was," he said, aided by a translator. "When I heard, we went to examine the situation. When we withdrew and there was shooting with medium guns and there were RPG's in the air and people panicked, we tried to control traffic."

A New York Times investigation cited multiple witnesses in Benghazi who described Abu Khatallah as playing a leading role in the attack.

In the CNN interview, Damon asked if anyone from the American or Libyan government tried to get in touch with Abu Khatallah afterward, and he responded: "Never."

To Damon, Abu Khatallah sounded confident at the time, rather than like someone facing an international investigation. He also made clear his sentiments on al Qaeda, the terrorist network linked to Ansar al-Sharia, which means "Supporters of Sharia."

"Al Qaeda is not something to be afraid of," he said. "Al Qaeda is people who are devout about protecting their religion and their people. America is the terrorist."

What took so long?

His public appearances last year and the subsequent months that passed until his capture caused GOP critics to question what took so long. They hope to use the Benghazi issue against Clinton, the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination if she decides to run.

Asked Tuesday about why it took so long to get Abu Khatallah, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said the important thing was that the mission accomplished its goal with no American casualties.

He and other officials have emphasized that building a criminal case against a terror suspect for an attack in a foreign country is challenging and takes time. A law enforcement source also told CNN that Abu Khatallah went into hiding following media interviews he gave last year.

"What matters is not that it took a matter of time to get him, but that we got him," Kirby said. "And I can't speak for his living habits. But let's just say for argument's sake he was living in plain sight. He's not anymore."